TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploratory analysis of potential risk factors of a rare disease
T2 - Spatial distribution of adrenocortical carcinoma in Israel as a case study
AU - Portnov, Boris A.
AU - Barchana, Micha
AU - Dubnov, Jonathan
PY - 2009/2/15
Y1 - 2009/2/15
N2 - The underlying assumption of the proposed exploratory approach is that, if the geographic patterns of different diseases are compared, the cases of a 'subject' disease should occur closer to cases of a disease with similar environmental risk factors (etiology) and farther away from cases of a disease with different etiology. In the present study, the performance of proposed approach is investigated by cross-examination of the spatial patterns of three widespread cancers - lung, larynx and colorectal (CRC) - with that of a rare malignant disease - Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC). As the analysis indicates, the spatial distribution of ACC is more likely to be related to hereditary factors than to environmental causes, in accordance with current knowledge about this rare disease.
AB - The underlying assumption of the proposed exploratory approach is that, if the geographic patterns of different diseases are compared, the cases of a 'subject' disease should occur closer to cases of a disease with similar environmental risk factors (etiology) and farther away from cases of a disease with different etiology. In the present study, the performance of proposed approach is investigated by cross-examination of the spatial patterns of three widespread cancers - lung, larynx and colorectal (CRC) - with that of a rare malignant disease - Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC). As the analysis indicates, the spatial distribution of ACC is more likely to be related to hereditary factors than to environmental causes, in accordance with current knowledge about this rare disease.
KW - Rare disease
KW - Risk factors
KW - Spatial clustering
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=58949100872&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.10.051
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.10.051
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C2 - 19042010
AN - SCOPUS:58949100872
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 407
SP - 1738
EP - 1743
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
IS - 5
ER -